Grimm Fairy Tail
by CrunchiCrack
Summary: Murder, schizophrenia, possession, and curses. Welcome to a world where magic is not always what it seems. Darkness changes the familiar characters we know and sets them in each other's paths. Selectively OOC. Pairings undecided.
1. The Survivor

**Heeeey, so this is my first attempt at a story. Hope you enjoy~**

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A calm breeze swept across the Heartfelia estate. The leaves of the lady's garden rustled against the wind and the branches danced around like they had minds of their own. The air hummed with the sounds of birds, insects and other more mysterious beings.

A shimmer of sunlight reflected from a set of tiny fluttering wings caught the eye of a young girl, about six years old. The child instantly froze and gasped in excitement. She watched as the creature hovered down to a blooming gaillardia flower. It's tiny feet pressing against the face of the pollen buds before it settled down into the bed of the brightly colored petals.

The girl was extremely lucky this time; it hadn't spotted her yet. With it's back faced to her as it reached down into the stem of the plant, Lucy decided that it was safe to get a closer look. Slowly, she inched forward, making sure not to disturb a single leaf in her mother's garden. The smallest of a rustle would be enough to alarm the creature and send it darting away, never to be seen again. She couldn't risk losing a chance like this. They were so rare, after all.

Lucy eventually became aware that she was practically standing over the small human-shaped sprite. It's glossy wings twitched around as it dug further into the flower.

Something so small and almost cute was the perfect image of little Lucy's idea of magic. The one thing she found herself infatuated with above all else was magic. Her mother had told her many stories about tales of anything magical; dragons, wizards, spirits, and even fairies. These were the things that she loved.

Refocusing her mind to the pixie in front of her, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. There was something particularly strange about it. A pointed tail flicked about below it's pale feminine form. This fascinated Lucy and she couldn't help but reach for the little stray limb. _"A Fairy tail?" _She thought to herself as her fingers drew closer. _"What kind of strange little Tinkerbell would have a tail?"_ She was certain that none of the stories her mother had told her involved a sparkly fairy with a pointed tail... It just seemed so _off_ to her.

Lucy's index and thumb finger closed around the tail in a swift pinch. Simultaneously, the fairy's wing's flicked up so suddenly that it caused the girl to jump in surprise. With the creature's head still buried in the flower, it remained incredibly still. Then slowly, it moved up and began to face Lucy. As the girl got a better look at the face of her sprite, her expression gradually changed from one of excitement to dismay. The fairy had large deathly black eyes that morphed it's delicate features into something from a nightmare. It's jaw opened wide to release an otherworldly high-pitched screech, revealing a set of tiny sharp teeth which made it all the more gruesome to look at.

Terrified, Lucy screamed back at the fairy, clenching it's tail tighter in shock. She felt a faint ripping sensation between her fingers before she realized that the sprite had detached it's tail from it's body in order to escape Lucy's grasp. Dark purple liquid sprayed the girl's hand and began to seep from the now detached tail that she still held. The fairy darted off into the trees past the garden.

Lucy dropped the tail and held her hand in place. Her brown eyes began to water as she stared at the fairy blood covering her arm. Whimpering helplessly, the child wiped her hand against her pink dress. She scrubbed her arm with the light-colored fabric until there were only dried black stains that refused to be removed. With tears now trailing down her face, Lucy looked back to the tail and sniffed at the sight of it still being where she left it. Reluctantly, she stepped over to the oozing worm-like stump and carefully picked it up by the end.

As she held it up to inspect what was left behind of the sprite, she watched a drop of the purple blood drip from the severed end. She was brought into a shaky fit of sickened sobs at the sight of it. Refusing to leave the disgusting appendage behind, she sprinted off towards the mansion with the bloody stump between her fingers.

"Mama will know what to do!" She cried miserably.

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A tall woman adorned with a dress of the finest fabric watched out the view of a grand window. Her hands remained folded in front of her and her long blonde hair was pinned up in a tight bun. A frown plastered on her face showed an expression of unease. A decision had to be made. Her husband was corrupted by something evil. It was breaking her heart seeing him turn into something else.

It was apparent that something was up once he started chanting phrases in an unrecognizable ancient dialect while he slept. She secretly began casting warding spells on the property after that night. The chanting went away temporarily until a few nights later, when she caught him whispering to their daughter in the same sinister dialect before he tucked her into bed. Confronting him about it confirmed her fears; he was absolutely clueless. He even tried to calm her down at some point, as if _she _was the one losing her mind. But she was calm, she knew she had to be. All dark magic thrived on fear and panic after all.

She decided that she could use some advice from her kin, but all of her attempts at using long distance communication magic had suspiciously failed. When she tried to leave the estate, she was physically blocked by a mesmerized Jude. His eyes bored into hers with a hostile intent when he stepped in front of the the door. Only when she faked a smile and pulled him back towards the house did the terrifying manifestation disappear from his expression. No doubt, he'd do the same for Lucy as well.

Conducting research from her collection of magic books, she continued setting off any kind of incantation that she suspected could be useful. It became clear that her subtle attempts at getting rid of the magic had officially failed the previous night. Instead of mumbling in his dreams, once he fell asleep, he lunged out of bed and paced down the halls of the manor, shouting the chants for hours. Layla had rushed to Lucy's room and cast a deep sleeping spell on the girl as she clutched the child between her arms.

"I have to get them away from this place..." She whispered to herself. How she was going to accomplish this, she wasn't sure. At this point, any type of confrontation towards Jude could be dangerous. Risking conflict with Lucy around was not a chance Layla was willing to take. The only option left was to attempt reasoning with what was left of her husband and convincing him to get them out of there.

Distant sobs pulled her mind to the present. Layla's eyebrows furrowed and she turned her head just as Lucy shoved past the door and into the main hallway where Layla was standing.

"MAMA!" She sobbed, causing her mother to bend down to her knees and reach out for her child.

"What is it Lucy? Are you okay?" She asked frantically. Lucy stopped a few feet ahead of the woman and ceased her wailing. Her watery eyes moved from her mother's face to her tiny clenched fist.

"I saw a fairy." She sniffed.

"..Oh?" Layla slowly lowered her arms as she waited for the child to continue.

"I touched a fairy." She hiccuped and her mother stared at her nervously, noticing the dark purple that stained her hands and clothes.

"Why are you crying dear?" The small girl looked up at this question before returning her gaze to her fist.

"I- ...I caught a fairy!" She cried as she thrust her arm forward and opened her fist to reveal the severed limb. Layla's eye's instantly widened at the sight of it.

"A- A fairy tail?" Layla asked herself. She swiftly smacked the thing out of her child's hands, causing Lucy to become even more startled. Layla stood up, grabbed the hand of the girl and pulled her down the hallway towards the main entrance. She finally knew what type of magic she was dealing with. There was only one type of fairy with a tail.

"Lucy, this is a very bad sign. You shouldn't have taken that thing... Shit." Lucy gasped at this. Not only was she becoming more and more engulfed with fear by every word her mother spoke, she had never seen her act like this before. She believed that her mother was someone who was never scared and hardly ever angry.

"I can put it back..?" She muttered although she had no desire to touch it again.

"No! We need to get out of here before they come looking for-" Layla's voice trailed off as the hum of thousands of tiny wings became audible. The room grew dark; the light from outside being gradually obscured by something... or many things, at that.

"Dammit!" She cursed as she glanced back at the grand window. "It's too late." Her eyes were wide with fear now. Glancing down at Lucy, her mind began to spin in attempt to grasp onto a solution. Lucy stared back at Layla with trails of tears distorting her vision. She could just barely make out a tear running down her mother's face before Layla lunged forward. Grabbing a hold of Lucy, she leaped for a wooden cabinet, shoved her daughter inside and looked her daughter in the eyes as she commanded her not to make a single word no matter what happened. She slammed the cabinet shut and stepped back to the center of the hall, facing the main entrance just as the doors flew open. Jude's form stood in the doorway, his eyes black as death as he stepped towards Layla.

Lucy could just barely make out her mother's form through a crack in the door of the cabinet. Confusion and fear seemed to be the only thing the tiny girl could feel at the moment. She wanted with every fiber of her being to call out to her mother and be swept away in a warm embrace; safe and sound. But she did as her mother asked, making not so much as a sound of breath to be heard.

"Gcasfar le chéile sinn arís, Layla Heartfelia." Jude stated with a grin, his voice sounding like something out of a nightmare. Layla didn't move. Her widened eyes remained locked on the tainted form of her husband. A corner of her upper lip rose in disgust before she spoke.

"How dare you lead my family into this trap. I thought I had wiped out your kind years ago." Lucy's eyes widened. _'Why was her father saying these strange things? Why was her mother talking to him that way? ...Why is this happening?'_

Jude laughed loudly at Layla's comment and continued to step closer to the woman.

"It doesn't matter, I'll wipe you out all over again if I have to!" Layla screamed furiously. The air around the woman began to swirl and spark as she held out two keys in front of her, tucked between her fingers. She held up her arm above her and the area around the woman began to glow in a golden light.

"...Aon." Jude spoke looking utterly annoyed at best. The light around the zodiac mage was suddenly overcome by the darkness surrounding it. In a matter of seconds, shadows pressed against the light until it retreated back into the woman's form completely. Once the shadow's touched Layla, her body jolted and her eyes widened in shock. The keys clattered onto the floor helplessly. Jude had the stage now.

"Tá d'am thar." With those words of reckoning, the grand window behind them shattered and the tiny forms of thousands of sharp-toothed imps rushed into the hallway, filling the air with a buzzing swarm. Lucy lost sight in the darkness and was left with nothing but the sound of buzzing and the screams of her mother. The girl pressed both hands over her mouth to keep herself from crying out. She recognized the creatures, they were just like the one she had found in the garden, only there were far too many to count.

The buzzing slowly faded and the light from the dark afternoon glowed in from the broken window again. The gaping frame let a cold wind pass through the hall, sweeping past the golden hair of Layla's mangled form on the floor. Jude was still standing over the woman with no light in his eyes. He turned away from the woman's form and glanced back over his shoulder, speaking in his normal voice.

"I'll be right back darling." And he slowly stepped out of the hallway. Lucy stared at her mother through the crack and watched her mother's eye's slowly open and make contact with her own. They gazed at each other for a few moments, both quite unsure of how to proceed with the situation. Layla's dress was torn to shreds, she was covered in her own blood which seeped out of countless tiny bite marks covering every inch of her flesh. She dared not to look at what was left of herself; she wasn't even sure if she could. So she watched her daughter for the last moment of life that she had left. It suddenly occurred to her how vulnerable the child was. Who knows how long she'd stay in that cabinet after witnessing something so traumatizing. Would Jude find her? Will she live? No. If there was one thing that Layla was still sure of, it was that her daughter was going to survive. Her eye's widened to command the girl's attention.

"Don't stay here. You need to leave! Now!" Layla burst into a fit of violent coughs and Lucy began to tremble. She'd forgotten how to move and in turn, stood there, staring through the crack for several minutes. Her hand twitched forward to press against the cabinet door, but immediately pulled back at the sound of Jude's footsteps approaching.

He stopped about a foot away from his wife's form with a shovel in his hand. Without a word, he lifted the shovel and slammed it down against Layla's skull and pulled back, repeating the motion over and over again. The blows were accompanied by crunching noises and shortly followed by gushing.

Lucy's tears had stopped. Her eyes shook in horror as she watched her mother get slaughtered through the tiny crack. _'This simply isn't real. This is just a terrible dream that doesn't make any sense'_ she tried to tell herself.

As Jude ceased his movements, the metal shovel suddenly clattered to the ground. He stared at the bloody remains of his spouse and muttered a single word.

"Lucy." And he sauntered out of the hall towards Lucy's bedroom. The girl in the cabinet finally began to breathe, though it was more hyperventilating than catching her breath. Her mind was so clouded with confusion and her body so stricken with fear that she simply stayed put.

_"Don't stay here."_ Her mother's voice echoed through her head.

_"You need to leave!"_ It shouted, causing Lucy to snap out of her immobile state.

_"NOW!"_ She burst out of the closet and stood ahead of her mother's corpse, staring at it, not even sure if she could call it her mama anymore. She obeyed the voice in her head and inched over to her mother's key's, snatching them and sprinting towards the door as soon as she had her hands around both. The six-year-old pushed open the heavy entrance door and ran down the front steps towards the road, never looking back.

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**Mwahaha~ (An A/N? wat? wat is this?)**

**And there is much much more to come.**

**Let me know what you think in a review! This is my first story, so feedback is crucial. \(*3*)/**


	2. The Psychopath

**I'm really happy with all the feedback I've gotten. Your reviews were a huge inspiration to keep writing. Thank you all so much. :3**

**A/N: When I use a '~' after an 's' it is to emphasize a hissing sound as a certain something speaks.**

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In the remote plains of Seven, a kingdom just north of Fiore, there was a small farming town called Greenbale. This scarcely populated settlement sat in the center of 5 square miles of feilds, which served as a reliable source of quality crop for surrounding cities. Nestled up on a hill, watching over the rest of the village, was a home that belonged to a boy named Natsu.

Inside this house, so unusually quiet, you'd almost be startled to see a 7 year old boy standing in the middle of the kitchen all by himself. His glazed expression made him look absent-minded in a way that grew increasingly eery the longer he held it. A mangled mess of spiky pink hair covered his head and cast jagged shadows over his face. His eyes were open, yet seemingly staring off into another world and his mouth moved in repeating sequences as quiet whispers; something along the lines of _'Where's dad? Where's dad? Where's dad? Where's dad? Where's dad? Where's dad?'_

"You spilled the juice again." Natsu glanced over to the fluffy little dog that had just spoken to him. The creature stared back at him with a look of concern.

"What?" He asked, blinking at the tiny canine curiously.

"The grape juice, Natsu." The boy looked down to his feet after feeling a sticky mess between his toes. Surely enough.

"Oh!" Natsu chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry."

Instead of being graced with the calm reply of the small pooch, an uncanny hissing sound slithered through the room, causing the Pomeranian to whimper in dismay.

"You s~tupid child. Look at what you've done now. What on earth would your parents~ think?" The snake poked its head out from behind a shadow under the windowsill, gazing at Natsu with its intimidating yellow eyes.

"Now hold on!" The dog barked, "I don't think it's wise to toss a weight of guilt on him over this now, do you?" The fluffy dog pressed before Natsu could come up with a response. Swiftly, the snake glided over to the dog and curled his body in a circle around him. The serpent spoke as the other side of reason.

"I c~ertainly don't think that s~ending him down the rabbit hole will leave him anymore s~ane than in face~ of reality!" The dog held his gaze with the reptile, but Natsu could tell that he was frighted by the way his short legs shivered. He couldn't help but be slightly annoyed at how dramatic the two were being.

"Shut up! I can clean up the mess all by myself! It's not even such a big deal! My mom won't even know it happened! So stop fighting, _okay_?" Both animals stared at him in silence, prompting Natsu to roll his eyes in annoyance. He stormed out of the room to look for some sort of fabric to clean up the juice with.

Through the doorway of the kitchen and down a small hallway, he entered a darker room; one where the window was covered by a heavy curtain to block the light. The boy's eyes strained for a few seconds before he could make out anything in the room, causing him to ease his hurried pace. He took in a slow, nervous breath as the blur of darkness began to take shape around him.

Natsu was like other kids his age, being prone to fears of the dark. There was a simple idea that many children seemed to understand: Darkness is a canvas and its medium is fear. A void of incalculable mystery set out in plane sight was a particularly convenient setting for nightmares to exhibit themselves. The unknown was a scary place, he thought. As this occurred to him, in the corner of his eye, he caught a feint silhouette that he hadn't noticed at a first glance. Something was moving on the ceiling; something with beady black eyes that watched him with interest. The shadow swayed back and forth slowly as it crept closer to the boy.

As Natsu's eyes adjusted, he began to make out the fur coat of the long-limbed creature inching closer towards him. The number of unsettling emotions that this figure set off in the child's mind would have normally triggered enough adrenaline to send him sprinting in the opposite direction, yet for some odd and compelling reason, Natsu couldn't be bothered to move from his position in the doorway. He rubbed his eyes lazily and then removed his hands to find a face inches from his own. An upside-down grin curled across the whole length of the sloth's face.

"You shouldn't be afraid of the dark... Only the things... the things that hide inside... the darkness." The Sloth nonchalantly commented on Natsu's thoughts in such a slow-paced diction, that one would assume he was almost confused. The face under the mop of pink hair blinked slowly at the animal that hung in front of him.

"Whatever..." The boy struggled to remember why he was standing there in the first place. He could have sworn that he was going to get something. He steadily turned his gaze behind him and noticed that he was no longer standing at a safe bail-distance in the doorway of the creepily dark room, but actually a couple paces inside

The lightly-colored Pomeranian came into the view of the suddenly distant exit of the room and stared at Natsu with reassuring eyes.

"It's alright Natsu, you can stay here for a while." As calming as the dog's words appeared to be, a slight hint of utter concern or pity caused Natsu to reel his senses back and question what he was doing there.

"But... wait, no... I need to find some towels or.. something." He protested as he began to leave the room warily. A furry clawed hand held his shoulder and pulled him back slowly.

"Relax... Relax... It's nice and dark... perfect for... a little nap." The sloth pressed, maintaining a pulled grin.

"Eh... Seriously though, I think I'm gonna go find something. I can't really see much in here anyway." The boy insisted as he gently pulled against the claw. Behind him, Natsu didn't even have to look; he could feel the sloth's grin morph into the most disturbing frown he could imagine.

"...Stay..." The long fingernails of Sloth's hand dug into the boy's shoulder, making Natsu wince in pain.

"NO!" He lurched his shoulder backwards and broke free from the creature's grasp. Then sprinting straight for the door, he pulled himself through and slammed it behind him. He would have half expected to find the door being busted open from inside a few seconds later; claws bursting out of the wood and scratching around frantically to feel for him; sharp rows of teeth gnashing through to the other side. But as he stood there panting, with his back pressed against the painted wood, he heard nothing. Not a single disturbance came from the inside of that room. He waited there for a few long moments just to be sure that his fears weren't going to manifest themselves from behind the door.

Natsu was alone again now. Even the watchful Pomeranian was gone. He was slightly relieved of this, however. The dog was a voice of reason to Natsu. He had always offered the correct path to be taken. Yet, despite this, the dog had just advised Natsu to go along with something that seemed wrong. He had never felt this way about his little friend before.

The boy wandered all the way to the end of the hall and opened the door to his room, a place that he was sure would be safe. He peeked inside just to be sure and thankfully saw nothing waiting for him. This had to be a good sign, he told himself. Jumping up to sit comfortably on his bed, he hadn't noticed anything stirring under his bed. He heard an angry growling noise come from beneath him, which made Natsu tuck in his dangling legs just in time for a set of menacing teeth to snap at the empty space.

"GET OUT!" It roared spitefully.

"This is my room you stupid jerk!" There's was a pause after the boy's words. It _was_ his room, after all. With a low growl, a furry red creature crawled out from under Natsu's bed and pulled its head around to snarl at him.

The beast had a thick neck and a large skull with a very powerful looking jaw, but of everything that stood out about this character, it was its teeth. Four sharp canines protruded from its mouth, being somewhat reminiscent of a snake's. A streak of white crossed its chest, adding a contrast to the bright red fur covering the rest of its body. The boy couldn't recall the name of this animal, so he subconsciously named it 'Devil'. A fitting name in fact, because it was actually known to the world as a Tasmanian Devil, possibly the cruelest and most hostile of the mammal family.

"I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS WHOS ROOM THIS IS!" The boy grew dizzy with rage at the Devil's unnecessary shouting.

"FUCK!" Natsu blurted as his hands clung to his head, fingers curling around his pink hair.

"OH YOU'RE UPSET? ARE YOU GOING TO BREAK SOMETHING?!" In retaliation against the Devil's sarcasm, the boy stood up fuming, and tore the sheets off of his bed, tossing them onto the floor.

"MORE!" The Devil spat. In rising anger, Natsu snatched his pillow and tore at it with his hands and teeth until it ripped to shreds, letting feathers spill out into the air. Unsatisfied, he stormed over to his lamp desk, where a thick book sat alongside his night lamp. It was with this book that his mother used to read him fairy tales every night before bed. For some reason, he couldn't recall that he enjoyed those stories immensely at the time.

He swatted the lamp off of the tiny desk and it promptly shattered on the floor. Without pausing, Natsu grabbed at the large book.

"You can't even pick that up! PUT IT DOWN YOU FOOL!"

"FUCK YOU!" And infected as Natsu was with the Tasmanian Devil's wrath, he _did _pick up that book. He held it above his head as far as it could go and he tossed it against the window next to his bed. The glass shattered instantly and the book toppled out of sight on the other side.

The red Devil scurried out of the room and left Natsu in the wreckage by himself. The boy took a long look at his room. Shattered glass and torn fabric littered the floor, his bed was stripped, and feathers floated through the air like ash after a devastating fire. The most surprising of the after effects, though, was something that he didn't recall causing: A black ring of soot lined the floor around the spot he currently stood. He rubbed his eyes and blinked at the peculiarity.

"Did I do that?" Natsu mumbled to himself in disbelief. He shook his head.

Not wanting to look at his mess for a second longer, the child left his room behind. He went back down the hall and into a tiny bathroom. Inside, he set his eyes on a rather large rat sitting on the sink counter. The rat turned to Natsu as he entered and sniffed the air petulantly.

"Yikes. You smell like soot and death, boy." Natsu's nose crinkled at the rather harsh greeting and immediately protested.

"No I don't!" There was an awkward pause.

"If believing that keeps your fuzzy pink head sound asleep on that pillow, who am I to tell you otherwise, ey?" The rat shrugged to himself sagely with a quiet chuckle and crept up to a rack of folded towels. This made Natsu's eyes widened as he noticed that the very object he had come for was now sitting right in front of him.

"So what can I do for you, small fry?" He grinned down at the boy as he situated himself comfortably on top of the linen stack. Ignoring the fact that the rat had called him small when in fact, he was considerably larger than the rodent, Natsu spoke as politely as he could manage.

"Well see.. uh Sir? I spilled some grape juice in the kitchen and I don't want my mama to find out. So I need something to clean it up all by myself." The rat's amused grin suddenly dropped and Natsu continued to explain. "It's from red grapes though and if I leave it there too long it'll leave a nasty stain and get real sticky and maybe even bring ants in for a feast... Mama hates when we get ants."

The rat's expression remained unchanged and unamused.

"That _is_ a pickle you're in." The boy blinked in confusion. He was pretty sure that there were no pickles around. "Poor little kid _spills his juice_..." By now Natsu suspected that the rat was mocking him. Unfortunately, this became ever so clear once the rat began to mimic the boy's speech.

"**Mama! Mama! I spilled some juice! How will I get these stains out of the floor **_**Mama**_**?!**" The rat's shrieks paused as he briefly gave way to his own cackling laughter. "**I can't let **_**Mama**_** find out, what if we get ants?! AHAHAHAAAA!**"

The boy grew more furious with every word, but somehow managed to keep his anger at bay. He _did_ need those towels after all. The rat ceased his hysterical laughter to meet eyes with the child.

"What about that mess in your room, huh? Why would you care about some stupid little stain when you have a broken window on your hands? Don't your priorities seems a little _jumbled _to you, kid?" The boy didn't respond simply because he didn't know how to. The questions confused him immensely, so he decided to ignore that the rat had said them at all.

"...Or maybe its not as jumbled as we'd like to think, huh?"

"Are you going to help me or what?" He blurted, interrupting the rodent's relentless stream of odd questions. The rat paused and gathered his thoughts.

"Ah well kid, see, the thing is.. these are _my _towels. I don't like sharing my towels... But since this amuses me, I think I _really_ would like to see you clean up that _grape juice_ mess out there." The rat snickered quietly once more before he met a gaze with the boy. The joy melted off of his furry little face and left a serious expression like before.

"You really have no clue, don't you?"

"Um... What do you mean?" The rat sighed, shook his head and continued.

"Yeah, you can have some... but to be honest, you'll need a bit more than a couple dry towels to clean up something like that... Here's the deal: you go find some cleaning supplies and I'll lend ya as many towels as you need." Natsu nodded at this. The offer seemed rather generous for a greedy little rat, so he was in no position to complain.

"Where do I find cleaning supplies?"

"Uh. Well I know there's none in here, so you're better off looking in the kitchen... That's right, the kitchen, in the cleaning cabinet." The rat eyed the 7 year old carefully as he spoke. Natsu blinked and exited the bathroom without responding.

He stood in the hallway outside of the door and stared down towards the kitchen. He wasn't sure why, but he received the most unsettling feeling that he was staring into the doorway of hopelessness.

The serpent from before was gliding into the kitchen several feet ahead. It lifted its head above its body to turn back and coax Natsu forward.

"This~ way-"

"-No!" The dog barked from behind, prompting the boy to spin around and face him. He was standing in front of the boy's room at the end of the hall.

"I'm sure there are plenty of what you need in your room!" The dog seemed desperate somehow.

"...It's okay, I've already found everything that I need." Natsu flashed the dog a smile in assurance. A whimper was the last thing his Pomeranian friend could offer him before he turned around and stepped towards reality.

Slowly toe-ing forward, Natsu noticed that a trail of grape juice foot prints lined the hallway. It seemed a bit dark, even for purple grape juice.

The light of the room was grayer than he remembered; possibly because of the change in daylight. Unable to recall how long he'd spent looking through the house, he decided to go with that theory. As he entered the kitchen, he somehow knew that he wasn't looking for cleaning supplies anymore. He held his eyes on the fridge and refused to look at anything else. A distinct assurance that he had not taken out the carton of grape juice at all flicked against his memory. He never even wanted any in the first place; it was always too sour to enjoy.

Slowly and with great effort, the boy turned his neck. Steadily and with absolute fear, he moved his eyes to the corner of the room, where the foot prints originated from. Natsu's mother lay motionless in a pool of blood. The Red Devil's cruel gaze peeked over the form of the woman and stared straight into the boy.

Tears pooled up in the child's sharp eyes before trailing down his cheek. His jaw clenched at the sight of the Devil.

"YOU MURDERER!" He ran to his mother and clutched her desperately. A slithering from behind him steadily made its presence.

"No Natsu." Warned the Devil. Natsu looked up at the creature with wide eyes. "It was you."

The boy turned to look behind him and saw the manifestations of his imagination standing before him. The compassionate Pomeranian, the truthful snake, the lazy sloth, the greedy rat, and the wrathful Tasmanian Devil watched him with knowing eyes. It was in that instance that the memory of it all flooded back into his mind.

* * *

"Mama, where's Dad?" The rose-haired woman glanced down at Natsu with a frown as she entered the kitchen, carrying in a bag of groceries. She shut the door behind her with her foot and sighed roughly. Before answering, she set the bag down, took out a carton of grape juice, and put it in the fridge.

"Natsu... You have to stop asking me that." That was all she would say—he knew this. It wasn't the first time he had tried to bring up the subject. He glared at her angrily. The Devil was behind her, screaming curses at his mother; curses that she remained oblivious to as she put the rest of the groceries away. Things like how she was selfish for keeping Natsu's father to herself and not bothering as to so much as answer a few questions about him. He was one of those boys that just _needed_ a father. His mother was aware of this and it continued to get increasingly frustrating as he grew older.

"Where's dad?" He repeated, gaining nothing but a scoff from his mother before being ignored. She was trying his patience now. The Devil shouted more enraged insults and bit ferociously at her ankles. Again, she heard and felt nothing. This only made him more angry.

"Where's dad?" With that, she slammed the items in her hand down against the counter, making Natsu jump slightly. She looked at her son and screamed.

"GO TO YOUR ROOM, NATSU!" She turned back around, done with his questions and snatched the food. She stormed over to the corner of the room where a step stool gave access to the higher storing cabinets. As she stood on the stool and began shoving things into the top shelves, instead of going to his room, Natsu stepped closer to her.

"Do it! DO IT! She deserves it, THE BITCH! She's keeping your _FATHER_ from you! SHE'LL ALWAYS KEEP HIM FROM YOU IF YOU LET HER! **DO IT**!"

Natsu crouched in front of the stool and yanked backwards with all of his strength.

Now, in most cases, pulling a step ladder out from below someone more than twice your size would be impossible, but in a world of fairy tails, some children are born with magic inside of them; magic that bends the possibility of what a 7 year old boy can do on his own. This was most certainly true for Natsu.

As the stool lurched backwards, the woman's feet went with it, throwing her completely off balance. She swiped her arms forward in attempt to catch herself against the shelves, but Natsu had tugged that stool out just a little too far. As her arms missed purchase against a surface, she actually ended up spinning herself forward, leaving her to dive straight into the tile-floor, head first. A thud, followed instantly by a loud snap, echoed throughout the kitchen. Natsu watched as his mother's body flopped helplessly onto the floor in a heap.

"Where's dad?"

* * *

Natsu was alone now. He sat next to his mother's body expecting and hoping to see so much as a sign of even the Red Devil, but it was just him alone in the kitchen. He turned to his mom and fell into a state of shock. Who knows how long he sat there staring at his mother; time was a haze that mixed between reality and the lies of his illness. The longer he sat there, the more entangled his emotions became. His skin grew hotter and hotter, until it birthed a dull flame. The flame encircled the boy's body and grew larger as he sat there. It rose to the ceiling and spread into the wooden shelves and across the hall, gradually creeping into each room.

Eventually, an unwelcome hint of acceptance seeped into the boy's mind, he was free to move. He noticed that the whole house surrounding him was ablaze. Quickly, he stood up and stepped away from his mother a little too frantically, causing him to slip on the bloody tiles below him. He was now covered from head to toe in what he had once told himself was grape juice. Scrambling backwards, he made his way to his feet and sprinted for the door. He fumbled with it a few seconds before it finally opened.

Natsu ran off into the dark night, out of the cottage, down the hill and into the vast fields of crop. He was moaning and crying in pain. Even though his skin was still covered in flames, he was not physically hurt. He was damaged by other means.

The events that took place that day plucked Natsu's already fragile mental state away from what he knew and tossed it into a blender of chaos. So he ran. He ran as the flames of his grief set fire to the farmer's crop and he didn't stop until something came down from the sky.

A great red dragon gazed down at the child covered in flames. The appearance of the dragon's head made imagining the size of the rest of his body impossible in the dark. The magnificent creature snorted a breath of ember-littered heat at Natsu and the boy looked up in awe.

"Dad?"

* * *

**Okay, hopefully that wasn't too much of a stretch to follow, but if you did get it, let me know in a review! Same goes to say if you found it confusing, arite? Definitely. If you've graced me with enough of your time to make it all the way down here, why not give me your thoughts? :)**


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